KO KATO

The Garden

ATSUHIKO SUEMATSU GALLERY

June 6 (Sat) – June 13 (Sat), 2026

Gallery Hours: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PMOpen Daily Throughout the Exhibition

Opening Reception: June 6 (Sat), 5:00 PM

Ikebana

Sogetsu Atelier

Issen Takamine　Dairei Murakoshi　Kahiro Ozaki

First Day: Happening Now

A live ikebana performance by members of Sogetsu Atelier will take place between the gallery opening and the reception on the first day of the exhibition.

With the cooperation of Sogetsu Atelier (Sogetsu Bunkajigyo Co., Ltd.)

Atsuhiko Suematsu Gallery pleased to present The Garden, a solo exhibition by Ko Kato.

Kato was born in 1968 and based in Seto, Aichi prefecture, has explored the possibilities of his work by using clay as a material.

The works presented in this exhibition are newly created objects as a vessels intended specifically for Ikebana, Japanese flower arrangement. Three artists from Sogetsu Atelier have been invited to engage with these forms through Ikebana.

Throughput his career, Kato has created objects that shaped as a vases and bowls, but which do not have a specific purpose.

However, in this exhibition, these works given a new role. They become vessels for flowers. Although they share a similar form, the constraints imposed on arranging flowers bring a new sense of tension to the gallery space.

Objects without a purpose and vessels that take on a purpose. The relationship between the artwork and the object is renewed during that back-and-forth process.

The title "The Garden" reflects the intention to view this gallery space as a special place, where neither the vessel nor the flowers are the main focus, but rather both exist as equal entities, in order to discover a new kind of beauty.

Ko Kato

Born in 1968, Seto, Aichi, Japan.

Lives and works in Seto.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2003-2007 rail, Nagoya

2011-2013 i space Isogaya, Tokyo

2013-2026 Gallery Sano, Shizuoka

2015,2017 SHUMOKU GALLERY, Nagoya

2016, 2021, 2024 Art Salon Kogen, Nagoya

2017 Hashimoto Bijutsu, Nagoya

2021 unlike. , Nagoya

2023 Gallery A, Hamamatsu

2025, 2026 Motoshiro Gallery & Library, Hamamatsu

Collection

Toyota City Folk Craft Museum

Issen Takamine

Born in Okinawa, Japan.

Practitioner of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.

Graduated from a ceramics program

and later studied lacquer techniques during an extended stay in Vietnam.

2014 — Began studying at Sogetsu Atelier

2016 — Joined Sogetsu Atelier and served as an assistant to Akane Teshigahara.

2020–2025 — Lecturer at WEST, Kyoto

Member of the ikebana performance unit Za–Sogetsu.

Dairei Murakoshi

Born in Odawara, Kanagawa, Japan.

Practitioner of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.

Began studying ikebana at the age of ten in Odawara.

2019 — Joined Sogetsu Atelier and served as an assistant to Akane Teshigahara.

2022 — Recipient of the Sogetsu Newcomer Award

Author of The Secret of Flowers (KADOKAWA), a practical guide to ikebana.

Member of the ikebana performance unit Za–Sogetsu.

Kahiro Ozaki

Born in Nagano, Japan.

Practitioner of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.

Began studying ikebana while attending university.

After training in Norway, has taught and exhibited internationally.

2022 — Joined Sogetsu Atelier and served as an assistant to Akane Teshigahara.

Member of the ikebana performance unit Za–Sogetsu.